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Ship set to rescue sailors stranded due to Julio

Associated Press
10:40 a.m. EDT August 11, 2014

This Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014 photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the 42-foot sailboat Walkabout caught in Hurricane Julio, about 400 miles northeast of Oahu, Hawaii. Walkabout is disabled and taking on water with three people aboard. The Coast Guard is coordinating the rescue of the boat. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)(Photo: AP)

HONOLULU – A container ship reached a sailboat stranded in waters roiled by Hurricane Julio about 400 miles (643 kilometers) off the Hawaii coast, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday.

Operations Specialist Andrew Lincoln said that crews are waiting until dawn to evacuate the three people on board the stricken sailboat. He says performing the rescue before first light, in the midst of rough weather, would be too dangerous.

“The seas were really bad and it’s kind of windy so they didn’t want to do it in the dark,” he said.

The Coast Guard says the sailors aboard the 42-foot (12.8-meter) sailboat Walkabout sent a message around 7 a.m. Saturday requesting help after the boat became disabled and took on water. One of the hatches blew away, and onboard pumps couldn’t keep up with the flooding. The vessel’s life raft was also blown overboard. The container ship Manukai reached the Walkabout around 10 p.m. that night.

Lincoln, who is helping coordinate the rescue, said the stranded sailors would climb aboard a life raft lowered to them, then float over to the container ship.

“If seas were calm they’d pull up to the sailing vessel and (the three sailors) would climb up what’s called a Jacob’s ladder,” he said. “But it’s really rough out there so if (the Manukai) did that they’d end up running over that sailing vessel.”

Lincoln says Julio has passed through the area, but it has left behind winds gusting at 29 mph to 35 mph (46 kph to 56 kph) and 15-foot (4.5-meter) swells. A Coast Guard C-130 will head out to monitor the rescue.